Entrepreneurship can be a transformative option for young people to gain economic independence, shape economies and drive businesses for good. Young entrepreneurs are critical to future economic development and key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. But while young entrepreneurs rarely lack ambition, they often lack resources. Insufficient access to finance remains a consistent barrier for young people wanting to start and grow their business, limiting their ability to generate income, create jobs, and contribute to national economies. Access to finance for young entrepreneurs in ..read more

When was the last time you received your wage in cash? Have you ever received a pile of bills and coins, taken public transportation, and wondered where in your house to hide them to keep them safe? There is a chance you have never experienced this. But in many countries, this is an everyday reality. Take Jordan, for example. An estimated two-thirds of garment workers, mostly women, still receive their wages in cash every month. There lies an opportunity: Shifting payments from cash to digital has the potential to improve the lives of people on low incomes, particularly women, but also bring t ..read more

Poverty is rampant among these populations. There is a need for jobs. A key way to create jobs is to expand private sectors in communities that host the forcibly displaced. And a key way to do that is to unleash entrepreneurship – and to connect entrepreneurs with global and regional companies as customers and partners. In many cases, those global and regional companies can also help by developing and delivering tailored products and services that forcibly displaced people need. Communities of forcibly displaced people can be stores of talent and drivers of economic growth. Many of the people ..read more

The second of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – SDG2: Zero Hunger – aims to create a world free of hunger by 2030. However, according to the UN, a combination of factors including the pandemic, conflict, climate change, and deepening inequalities, mean that hunger and food insecurity have been rising since 2015, and the world is back at hunger levels not seen since 2005. It is against this backdrop that I was recently invited, along with Rory Stewart of Give Directly; Dr Jyotsna Puri, of IFAD; Ruchi Tripathi of VSO; Dr Rachael McDonnell of IWMI and CGIAR to give evidence  to t ..read more

To Support the Economic Empowerment of Women in Coffee, We Must Make Their Work Visible. “We didn’t understand that we could do it, that we [as women] could go out into our communities and be ourselves,” says Nay Aponte, a coffee grower in Peru’s Monzón Valley. She worked hard on the family coffee farm, but it was always her husband who would speak with coffee buyers and sell the crop. Nay’s experience is similar to that of many women in coffee. The majority of the world’s coffee is grown by smallholder farming families, where women and men often work side-by-side to nurture and harvest the cr ..read more

Limited internet users are five times more likely than extensive users to be from a low-income household, according to 2023 data from Good Things Foundation. However, having the means to engage effectively online is key in improving education and employment opportunities for those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Social mobility in the UK, which refers to the ability of individuals or households to move between different levels of society, is at its lowest rate in 50 years. While the reasons behind this phenomenon are complex, inequal access to digital technologies — known as the digit ..read more

Women entrepreneurs represent a trillion-dollar economic growth opportunity with benefits that ripple through households and communities – this should be enough to inspire action, but sadly it’s not. And despite the proliferation of gender equality strategies, gender-focused financial inclusion policies, entrepreneurship support programs, and extensive evidence that women are worth investing in, we’re still only skimming the surface of tapping into this potential. And we are not designing intentionally enough for the barriers that women face. At CARE, we recently closed out our Ignite program ..read more

Tackling gender inequalities in supply chains through sustainability systems The world won’t meet its sustainability goals without addressing gender issues – and sustainability standards and similar systems have an important role to play by setting gender responsive standards. The world won’t meet its sustainability goals without addressing gender issues – and sustainability standards and similar systems have an important role to play by setting gender responsive standards. Gender equality is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, and is crucial to achieving many of the goals: f ..read more

RISE: A Reflection on Women’s Advancement Beyond Supervisory Roles in the Garment Industry Key Points Women workers are underrepresented in leadership roles within factories in the Ready-made-Garment (RGM) supply chains Existing activities focused on workers’ and supervisors’ capacity building to promote women to supervisory roles don’t fully match the expectations of workers or address their concerns There is an opportunity to explore a broader approach to supporting women’s advancement, beyond supervisory roles, that can get the buy-in of women and support longer term business needs. Despi ..read more

Two-year-old Hanvi Rana giggles as she pushes herself forward on a plastic motorcycle, weaving between the other toys scattered across the playroom. As one of 15 small children dropped off at this Nepali childcare center, the cheerful toddler is developing important cognition and social skills as she busies herself with playthings and educational games. Just as important, her mother now has time for other responsibilities. For three hours each weekday, Bimala Saru can turn her attention to household chores and tending her vegetable garden, while Hanvi attends free childcare. “Since the esta ..read more